We are enjoying an uncommonly mild Autumn. Everybody is kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, but we're enjoying it until then! When we were out the other day, the first thing we noticed that, although it was mid-morning, there was a lot of water (dew?) on the plants.
Each little hair on the Mullein was decorated with its own tiny drop.
The pictures don't really do it justice. And that was just one of the lovely things we saw.
The kids were all about the quarry area of the park this time. We stacked rocks with the Littles for quite a while while the Bigs played in the bushes.
While we sat and played with the rocks, we found these cool leaves with deep groves in the veins. I don't know what kind of tree they came from, but the looked really cool.
The goldenrod seeds were beautiful, though my phone struggles to do them justice.
There were a lot of beautiful little things that it would be so easy to walk by. I love that our Nature Study days help me slow down an see some of this stuff.
Hero had a chat with a naturalist the other day for a Webelo project, and one of the things the naturalist told us is that nests of sticks tend to be birds' nests; squirrels build with leaves, and they most prefer oak leaves because they break down much more slowly than other types. So I was excited to find a squirrel nest while we were out.
I was amazed to find these still blooming; I guess the mild weather hasn't been cold enough to put them to sleep, even though we've had several good frosts now.
When I was a kid, I used to think Autumn was ugly. Dull brown and nothing at all to see. Looking around now, I'm amazed at all the things I was blind to. I'm glad I've learned better; Autumn is lovely.
"There are few persons in the world who care not for the appearance of
their dress. They generally want their garments of a good material, and
to fit them in a becoming manner. Our ideas and thoughts are also
entitled to a becoming dress; and it should be our pride to clothe them
with the most chaste and beautiful language, that they may hang around
our person as jewels of unfading beauty, even as “apples of gold in
pictures of silver" (Prov. 25:11)."
-Orson Hyde, JD 6:375
Blessed are the undefiled in the way, how walk in the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart.
They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
Thou has commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
O that my ways were directed to keep thy statues!
Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
I will keep thy statues: O forsake me not utterly.
-Psalm 119:1-8
But the one achievement possible and necessary for every man is character; and character is as finely wrought metal beaten into shape and beauty by the repeated and accustomed action of will.
-Charlotte Mason, 6:129
For, let us consider. What we do with the will we describe as voluntary. What we do without the conscious action of will is involuntary. The will has only one mode of action, its function is to 'choose', and with every choice we make we grow in force of character.
-Charlotte Mason, 6:129
"An unrushed atmosphere is absolutely essential if you are to have the
Spirit of the Lord present in your class. Please don’t ever forget that.
Too many of us rush. We rush right past the Spirit of the Lord trying
to beat the clock in some absolutely unnecessary footrace."
-Jeffrey R. Holland, Teaching and Learning in the Church
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
-Psalm 14:1
Fool. n.
1. One who is destitute of reason, or the common powers of understanding...
2. In common language, a person who is somewhat deficient in intellect... or a person who does not exercise his reasons...
3. In scripture, a fool is often used for a wicked or depraved person; one who acts contrary to sound wisdom in his moral deportment; one who follows his own inclinations, who prefers trifling and temporary pleasures to the service of God and eternal happiness.
4. A weak Christian; a godly person who has much remaining sin and unbelief...
-Webster's 1828, "Fool"
In order to successfully treat muscular and skeletal problems with plant medicine we need to have a clear understanding of the different tissues involved, how they work, and what can happen to them. We also need to understand that certain parts are analogous to others, even when they have been artificially separated in biomedicine. Finally, we need to know which herbs do what.
-Treatment of the Muscular and Skeletal System by Matthew Wood, Registered Herbalist
“She
was ladylike, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those
days; characterised by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the
delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace which is now recognised as
its indication. And never had Hester Prynne appeared more ladylike, in
the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the
prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her
dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even
startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the
misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.”
-The Scarlett Letter
Evening
The cricket sang,
And set the sun,
And workmen finished, one by one,
Their seam the day upon.
The low grass loaded with the dew,
The twilight stood as strangers do
With hat in hand, polite and new,
To stay as if, or go.
A vastness, as a neighbor, came,
A wisdom without face or name,
A peace, as hemispheres at home,
And so the night became.
-Emily Dickinson
This is another chapter that it took some time before it really spoke to me. Doing a series on every single Psalm is interesting, in part because of the way that it makes me really focus deeply on the message of each chapter; if I'm going to blog about each one, I've got to have something worthwhile to say. That isn't something that I can always do immediately, in fact it's frequently challenging, and I feel like spending the time necessary with each chapter to get to know it well enough to comment on it is turning out to be far more difficult than I'd anticipated -- and it's changing the way that I see the whole Bible, and deepening my relationship with God. I wasn't really thinking of that kind of change when I started this; I just felt I needed know the Bible better, and this seemed like a likely way to get there. But changing the way we see scripture, and the way we relate to our Heavenly Father is one of the fundamental purposes of scripture study of any sort: it's supposed to be transformative. I realize that; I'm not sure why it caught me off guard.
So. This was another chapter that I had to read and re-read, trying to get it to speak to me. After a while, I started to write it out, thinking that might help me to slow down enough. It worked; I only made it through the first verse that day, and was totally captured by the first line of the Psalm:
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. -Psalm 14:1
One of the things that has been a consistent challenge for me in reading and blogging about the Psalms is that there are significant portions of them that feel... negative. This passage, for example, is one of several that was off-putting at first: it feels like name-calling, like an insult, and isn't that supposed to be one of those bad things we don't do? It's hard to reconcile that being in scripture. It's uncomfortable. Discomfort is good; we're not looking for smooth, easy words. But. My tendency is still to gloss over this sort of thing, and to instead linger over passages that are more pleasant to read. Things like Psalm 23, which I'm really looking forward to studying when I eventually get there. There's so much joy and hope and happiness in the scriptures, it's not hard at all to focus on those instead instead of looking closely at sections that are challenging. We had a Relief Society teacher tell us a while back that, when she finds a fault in herself, she studies it in the scriptures. I so admire that; it's not easy to deliberately delve into the uncomfortable parts of the Gospel. But this project, writing about every single one, doesn't let me stay with the familiar, pleasant parts. It's hard, but it's deepening my understanding of the scriptures; the gospel has some difficult aspects, and they are also important.
So, I wondered about this word, fool. We don't use it a whole lot anymore. The 1828 Webster's entry for fool has a number of interesting things to think about. I've bolded my favorite parts:
1. One who is destitute of reason, or the common powers of
understanding; an idiot. Some persons are born fools, and are called
natural fools; others may become fools by some injury done to the brain.
2.
In common language, a person who is somewhat deficient in intellect,
but not an idiot; or a person who acts absurdly; one who does not
exercise his reason; one who pursues a course contrary to the dictates
of wisdom. ...
3. In scripture, fool is often used for a wicked or depraved person; one
who acts contrary to sound wisdom in his moral deportment; one who
follows his own inclinations, who prefers trifling and temporary
pleasures to the service of God and eternal happiness. ...
4. A weak christian; a godly person who has much remaining sin and unbelief. O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have written. Luke 24. ...
1. To play the fool, to act the buffoon; to jest; to make sport. 2. To act like one void of understanding. To put the fool on, to impose on; to delude. To make a fool of, to frustrate; to defeat; to disappoint. To trifle; to toy; to spend time in idleness, sport or mirth. Is this a time for fooling?
1. To treat with contempt; to disappoint; to defeat; to frustrate; to deceive; to impose on.
There's a richness of meaning, when you look at the verse with all these different nuances: The fool, either unable or unwilling to reason -the effect is the same- says there is no God. He acts contrary to sound wisdom in this denial, preferring trifling pleasures to the service of God, whom he treats with contempt.
It is interesting, too, that Webster includes the weak Christian in his definition, and the passage he cites is fascinating, as well as unsettling, in its implications: he points to where Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus see Christ, but don't know Him, and are rebuked -called fools by the Lord- when they still do not understand the events they are experiencing. Always before, I've thought more on what a privilege it was for these two men to walk with and be taught by Christ, Himself, even if they did not realize it at first, they would look back, knowing it was Him. And their response, once they do understand is admirable: they book it back to Jerusalem immediately and find Peter and the others. I'd never focused on the one sentence that is recorded of Christ's actual words to them; just wished that I could have been walking there with them, to learn from the Master. But that's a pretty stinging rebuke. Joseph F. Smith talked about this episode, and pointed out how the disciples, even Peter, at this point had not received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and what a profound difference that makes for them as they try to work through these events that must have been so confusing and troubling. That makes me think, again, of Webster's definitions - without reason, or unwilling to reason. Being without the Holy Ghost, or unwilling to live so that we can have his assistance, the effect is nearly the same, and any of us can fall into that trap if we are not consistently vigilant. Rather than seeing in this verse only a rebuke to nonbelievers, I started to see in it a caution to complacent Christians, along the lines of the conversations about the differences between believing in Christ and believing Christ that you sometimes see.
So I started looking for other passages that talk about fools. And I was stunned by how many there are. Over 60 in Proverbs alone! You could spend a very long time studying what it means, scripturally, to be a fool, what their actions are, what the consequences are. And, it looks like, at least in Proverbs, these things are often taught by contrasting them with wisdom, so you'd learn a lot about wisdom in the process. I started looking through a few of the references to fools to see what I could learn, what I ought to avoid doing.
•Fools indulge in prattle -empty, excessive babble. (Proverbs 10:8)
•Fools hide hatred with lies and speak slander. (Proverbs 10:18)
•Fools enjoy -find sport in- causing trouble for others. (Proverbs 10:23)
•Fools rage... wait. What does that mean?
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
The comparison in this verse appealed to me right away, but I wondered what, exactly, is it to "rage"? So I looked it up in Strong's Concordance; pretty interesting stuff. The Hebrew verb here, âbar, usually is rendered something along the lines of "to cross over" or "to pass over". Jacob crosses over the Euphrates to escape Laban (Gen. 31:21). God made the wind pass over the flood waters (Gen 8:1). Between those two phrases there's close to 300 times this verb is used... and I was really scratching my head, trying to understand what on earth is going on here in Proverbs after looking at several examples like this.
But Âbar also sometimes is used in the sense of "passing over" a law or covenant as if it's not binding (see Num. 14:41). According to Strong's, certain forms of the verb are only used in reference to sin: the offender "passes beyond" the limits set by God's law and falls into transgression. In this sense, it made much more sense to me, and called to mind the awful gulf that separates the wicked from the Tree of Life in Nephi's vision (1 Nephi 15:28). And, at this point, this seems to apply most to the overconfident believer:
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool [crosses into temptation], and is confident.
This brings to mind the contrast between Joseph in his dealings with Potipher's wife, and the overly rosy assessment of the Jews by Laman and Lemuel. We read that, when faced with insistent temptation, Joseph "fled and got him out" - exactly what Proverbs recommends. Laman and Lemuel, on the other hand, in spite of the testimony of many prophets to the contrary, are quite confident that "the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people" and they wish they had not listened to their father, and remained at Jerusalem.
I've been intrigued by Laman and Lemuel and other scripture villains for a while now. A significant number of these villains are members of the Lord's church, and in several cases they are leaders who, it would seem, have crossed into temptation and fallen out of step with the Gospel, but they don't always leave the church. Once I started to see them, I discovered that there are a sobering number of stories and passages that in various ways warn of the dangers of being at ease in Zion. The often-repeated admonition to endure to the end is no idle warning, and the effects of failure to adequately guard ourselves, of slipping into overconfidence, are amply illustrated in the Standard Works.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. -Psalm 14:1
That got me thinking, since so many of these verses seem to be directed at believers at least as much as nonbelievers, how we might act as if there is no God? Certainly, atheism and agnosticism qualify. But do believers do this? If I'm really honest with myself, I think I may see myself in these words occasionally. Don't we sometimes behave as if God is more of an abstract, impersonal thing, rather than a beloved Parent who is intimately familiar with and concerned about everything to do with us? Laman and Lemuel did not ask God about their father's vision, instead looking to Nephi for explanation. Isn't not asking questions, not requesting blessings, not seeking Gifts of the Spirit, saying something along the lines of, "There is no God, not for me." Because we believe ourselves to be too broken, too insignificant, too worthless, too whatever, to be worthy of His attention. It's not true. But I know I've done it. And I've seen it in people, good people, around me. The world is very good at teaching lies about our value. Our value to God is intrinsic. It's not in our grades, our goodness, our talents. It's not in our accomplishments or our trophies. Not even in our service and sacrifice. Our full value is in ourselves. In our nature. In our being. But we can be fooled into believing otherwise.
Lots to think about. Lots to discover. I want to remember this stuff, and to be reminded when I come across these passages, so I built a scripture chain to bring me back to these thoughts, to help me remember. The first two passages kind of anchor the whole thing, because of the notes I made in the margins this time, from Webster's and Strong's.
Hero, for one of his Webelos projects, needs to have a plant. And he needs to learn about reasons why plants are good. NASA did a study on what plants filter the air most effectively, and I had him read an article on the study. Then we went to the store to see what they had.
I wanted to check out the Mother-in-law's Tongue, but it's much larger than I realized, and they wanted $80 for the one they had in stock. Wow. Probably going to be a while before I have one of those. But they had other things. Ferns and Pothos and succulents and ivys and all kinds of fun plants. I love looking through the plant section.
We set out to get Hero a plant, but it quickly became apparent that Dragon was going to be crushed if he didn't get one, too, and what the boys do, the girl must do, so Peanut wanted one, too. I wondered what this little excusrion was going to cost, but we were in luck: they had some tiny plants in pots maybe 2 inches across for $2, and I let Dragon and Peanut choose one of those. Hero, needing it for a project, got to choose one that was in a 4 inch pot for $4. Not too bad. But all those plants needed to be repotted. Happily, we found some pots that were on clearance, so each kid got to choose a colored pot. And we found trays to put under; those were more than I'd hoped for, and kind of oversided for the pots, but with kids watering, I don't think we'd be ok to do without. All total, it was just under $15, which I feel pretty good about!
So. Now we have plants. Two of the three got names. Hero has a Silver-Veined Fittonia that he's dubbed "Silvy." Dragon's is a Hypoestes. The tag didn't say, but the store people told us when he asked. Anyway, it's got green and pink leaves, so he's calling it "Grink." And Peanut chose a mini spider plant, but didn't name hers, at least not yet. Last night a friend stopped by, and he very kindly consented to introductions to all three plants; the kids were so excited about it, and he was a great sport. Upstairs to the boys' room to inspect two plant-pets there, and then down to the kitchen: I persuaded Peanut that her plant needed more light than is available on her dresser. Which means that I can also see it, and that will help me remember to help her water her plant-pet. I think the kids are almost as excited about these plants as they would have been if I'd got them a puppy or a fish!
This morning, I reminded Dragon that after he got dressed the window needed to be opened so the plants could have some light. No problem. The window was opened before he woke up, and he'd just get dressed in the bathroom so that his plant would be happy in the light.
I feel cranky this evening. A little bit whiney. (I hate whining.) So I'm making myself count blessings. But they're not in any particular order.
*I am married to a fantastic man. He works super hard to protect and provide for our family. And he's my best friend. So glad I married my best friend.
*I get to stay home with my kids.
*it rained today. I love water from the sky. Bonus points for the way it makes the trees' colors extra vivid. More bonus points for not needing to go anywhere in it.
*Food is yummy; cooking delicious food for people I love is fun.
*I have mismatched socks that make me smile.
*The kids wanted to do watercolors this morning. We abandoned most of the schedule for an art day. It's been a while, and it felt good to put paint on paper, even if I didn't finish yet.
*My banjo is so pleasant to play. And the 5 minutes here and there are starting to add up a little: I sound halfway credible on a couple of songs, not just Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!
*I've got a whole bunch of copies of scripture. There's my basic English paper set that's the entire standard works. And the Church's app that's got the whole kit in my pocket to peek at whenever. That's also got the Tripple in Japanese (plus a bunch of other languages, but I don't use those). I've got a paper Japanese Bible, though it's still pretty hard for me. And the Welsh Book of Mormon. That one's cool because Welsh was the first language it was translated into, and it kind of looks like they've never updated it: it doesn't even have verses. I'm not so hot at Welsh, but once I get started, I'll do part of my reading there.
*My house is heated. I have running water. Which means I get hot showers, more or less daily. This is a luxury that I appreciate.
*I have children. There was a time when I wondered if that would happen for us. Now we have three.
*I have a yard for them to play in - and for me to dig in. Dirt is good for us all.
*Yoga is fixing my scoliosis. Pretty amazing, given that I was told its incurable.
*Learning about herbs has dramatically decreased the trips we take to the doctor. We used to get every cold, all the flus. They'd turn into sinus infections, bronchitis, and pneumonia pretty routinely. And sooooo many ear infections. Now we hardly ever get sick enough to be miserable, and it's been ages - probably over a year - since we took any of that stuff to the doctor or had antibiotics. Herbs are a pretty remarkable blessing for us.
Ok. That's hardly a comprehensive list, but I feel better, and there's some other things I want to do before bed.
The logo this month is Hastings at Sunset, which was painted by Albert Goodwin(1845-1932), a British painter. You can read more about it here.
This month's chapter from our book is The Blacks and the Grays, which apparently are better to mix than to buy. He's got "recipes" for making several kinds of black and a whole mess of grays, which he demonstrates on some very cute elephants. So, we should practice our mixing and make some grays and blacks. Then, try a painting using some of the colors you practiced. Here's a couple ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
The thing that struck me, as I was looking for speed drawings to include this month, is the way that these artists have a pretty clear idea of what they're going to do with their painting before they start: they know the end from the beginning, at least in this small thing. I thought that was an interesting thought, that painting could be used to no only express some of the heritage we have from being the children of an infinitely creative Heavenly Father, but also a way to further develop one of His traits, as we learn to plan and carry out our own creative projects.
